Websites to support flipped learning

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Image: maclife.com

We list the best websites and resources available online to help you make the transition from traditional teaching model to flipped classroom.

The flipped classroom model is a simple idea – students gain the necessary knowledge before class, perhaps, for example, watching a video explaining a new mathematical concept, then during the lesson, they practise applying the key concepts with feedback from the teacher. Because the teacher does not have to introduce the curriculum content during the lesson, he or she has more time to clarify and correct misconceptions, and work with students on deepening their understanding.

One benefit of this model is that students can work at their own pace, pausing and rewinding videos in a way they can’t do with their teachers! It also increases dialogue and the sharing of ideas between teachers and students, and with more lesson time spent on applying knowledge, there’s an inevitable emphasis on higher order thinking skills, problem solving and collaboration. The growth of this model is therefore a very exciting development.

But despite the simplicity of the idea, putting it into practice does take a great deal of hard work and motivation. As Chris Waterworth advises in his article for Creative Teaching and Learning, volume 5.1, it’s best to start small and make the most of what’s already available to you – and there’s a great deal available online! 

The material on the web can roughly be divided into two areas – advice on making the transition from traditional teaching to the flipped classroom model, and tools and resources to do so.

This blog post will focus on websites providing the former. You can find a list of useful tools and resources for flipping the classroom here.

The Flipped Institute (www.flippedinstitute.org)
Great for newbies. The video on their homepage, a wonderful 3D paper animation with a walrus as the teacher and penguins for students (pictured below right), provides a brief introduction to flipped learning and its benefits – perfect for use in a staff briefing as a launch pad for further discussion or as part of an introductory presentation for parents.

Image: flippedinstitute.org

The rest of the site breaks flipped learning down into three simple steps. Each step comes complete with downloadable pdf guides covering a number of practical considerations, such as ways to share content in a safe and controlled way and advice on creating videos yourself. Also available on this site is a compilation of some of the best resources from the web – from articles and infographics to videos, Twitter chats and a list of useful websites.


The Flipped Learning Network (www.flippedlearning.org) 
Don't miss the FLN's four pillars of FLIP (an acronym of the four essential ingredients of a successful flipped classroom) and the linked checklist of 11 indicators for successful flipping. It’s a flipped learning rubric – extremely useful for evaluating your practice and seeing where and how you can improve.

Other resources on the FLN include:

• a range of case studies and research reports
• a handy pdf guide to creative commons licensing (after all, you deserve some recognition from all the other teachers making use of your fabulously creative videos!)
• brilliant examples of subject-specific videos others have created (great for inspiration)
• an archive of some of the FLN’s past webinars, including a number presented or assisted by flipping gurus, Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams
• a number of podcasts
• access to historical episodes of Jon Bergmann’s flipped learning radio show, The Flip Side
• a link to the 2012/13 archives for the Twitter chat, #flipclass.

Flipping the Classroom (www.flippingclasspedagogyandtools.weebly.com)
The best thing about this site is the way it explores what should be done with the increased face-to-face class time the flipped classroom model provides. It gives a fantastic range of classroom activities that reflect the highest levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy - which is really what you should be focusing on, as students cover the lower levels at home.

Image: flippingclasspedagogyandtools.weebly.com

Also on this website is a range of example lesson plans covering different age groups and subject areas. This section gives an idea of the versatility of the flipped model and how you can adapt it to suit your needs. The lessons also include the resources mentioned so you can actually use them in your own classroom.

Other resources include:

• a long list of websites with ready-made video content
• a decision tree to help you decide which tools to use when flipping your own classroom (pictured right)
• advice on creating content.

Resources for reluctant readers

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Image: readingbyphonics.com

There are many reasons why children don’t read. One oft-cited reason is lack of interest. Some kids have never read a book they've enjoyed so shun all others. Others would much rather be doing something else, like watching TV.

Some children, generally those with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN), struggle far too much with the process of reading to ever enjoy it.

The secret is finding the right book for each child – and it doesn't have to be a traditional book either. Graphic novels are a great way to appeal to visual learners, especially reluctant boys.

Audio stories are also a useful resource, as although they don't require any actual reading, they can help cultivate a love of stories and the desire to read. Kids can get access to renowned novels like Pride and Prejudice or The Great Gatsby as audio stories. Surely worth encouraging for older students who might struggle with these books in written form?

Whatever medium they come in, books and stories are vital for developing imagination, empathy and communication skills. The list featured below features some of the best books, graphic novels, websites and apps for use with struggling or reluctant readers. There's also a list of useful articles for teachers on encouraging kids to read more, which includes access to a free article by Anne Fine!

Just because a child struggles with words doesn't mean they have to miss out on the worlds of adventure, fantasy and wonder stories provide.

Books

• Moon Chase, Bridge Reader Edition by Cathy Farr – Fast-paced fantasy adventure in large print. Great for weaker readers. Accompanying workbook makes it ideal for classroom use.
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid (series) by Jeff Kinney – Now also a series of films. Suitable for pre-teens/early teens.
• I Survived… (series) by Lauren Tarshis – Each book tells a story from history through the eyes of a boy who lived to tell the tale. Series includes surviving the Nazi invasion, the Japanese tsunami, the sinking of the Titanic, shark attacks and more. 
• Astrosaurs (series) by Steve Cole – Dinosaurs weren’t in fact wiped out by that wayward comet millions of years ago, they took off into space! Brilliant sci-fi series for both boys and girls. Easy to read too.
• Jiggy McCue (series) by Michael Lawrence – Hilarious series, including The Killer Underpants and The Toilet of Doom. Great for early teens.
• Dork Diaries (series) by Rachel Renee Russell – Fun series for girls. Title says it all.
• What My Mother Doesn’t Know by Sonya Sones – A novel in verse, great for teenage girls, as are Sones’ other books, including What My Girlfriend Doesn’t Know and One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies.

Graphic novels 

• Bad Island by Doug TenNapel – A gripping graphic novel with a unique plot and cast of characters. Also see TenNapel’s other graphic novels, including Ghostopolis, Tommysaurus Rex and Cardboard.
• Knights of the Lunch Table (series) by Frank Cammuso – New kid Arte King opens a locker no one else can - sound familiar? Three-part series packed with humour and clever references to Arthurian legend.
• Graphic Guide Adventures (series) by Liam O'Donnell – These are especially interesting as they combine an action adventure story with real world facts about wilderness survival skills, democracy, corporate conspiracy, and more.
• Stormbreaker: The Graphic Novel (Alex Rider Adventures) by Anthony Horowitz – Great for reluctant boys.
• The City of Ember: The Graphic Novel (Books of Ember), by Jeanne DuPrau – Boys and girls, young and older, will enjoy this (also available as a traditional book, and now a film too).
• Discovery Channel’s Top 10 Deadliest Sharks and Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Predators – A one-of-its-kind non-fiction graphic novel.
• Olympians (series) by George O’Connor – Vibrant retellings of Greek myths, focuses on various Olympian gods, including Zeus, Hera, Hades and more. Includes lots of monsters, romance and explosions!

Online resources

• Funbrain has a great reading section, packed with word games and online versions of popular kids’ books (including Diary of a Wimpy Kid).
• Storynory features a range of free audio stories, including fairytales, myths and legends, and more.
• Scholastic provides a selection of non-fiction books and articles from Scholastic’s magazines. Offers audio narration and complex topics in kid-friendly terms.
• The Lexile Framework for Reading helps children choose books according to their reading ability and interests.  You don’t need to know your Lexile levels – this tool calculates an approximate range for you.

Apps

• Speak It! – A text-to-speech app. Great for students to get some help with reading when they need it.
• Dragon Dictation – A speech-to-text app. Useful for help with spellings and for students who struggle with writing to jot down ideas.
• Soundnote – Record drawings, notes and audio all at once.
• Find the letters HD – Asks learners to find letters and numbers in a colouring grid.
• Read & Write – Enables students to practice both skills – for example, tracing letters and learning letter sounds.
• WordSort – Helps children identify parts of speech and improves grammar skills.
• Read 2 Me – Includes a library of texts which can be read aloud.
• Audiobooks – A collection of free audio books, offering access for struggling readers to complicated texts such as Romeo and Juliet.
• Reading Trainer – Helps boost reading speed and ability.
• Stories2Learn – Allows you to create your own text and audio stories.

Best practice articles from our archives

• FREE ARTICLE! '50 books a year!' by author Anne Fine – A range of exciting ways to encourage children to read more and enjoy it.
• 'Developing confident readers' by author Piers Torday – Strategies to help reluctant and challenged readers gain confidence in their own abilities.
• 'Creating a whole-school reading ethos' by CILIP President Barbara Band – Ways of working with your school librarian to raise the profile of reading and provide opportunities for the whole school community to get involved.
• 'Boys, books and Xbox' by Collette Higgins – Improving boys' reading and writing by tapping into what and how they read outside school.
• 'The storytelling curriculum' by Sue Lyle – No phonics, no spoon-feeding of literacy sub-skills, yet astounding results… How would you explain it? A brilliant teacher? A freak year? Dr Sue Lyle reports on action research at one primary school that turned the entire approach to teaching literacy on its head.

Image: cpb.org

5 speaking and listening activities to explore characters and motive

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An important part of reading is exploring characters and the role they play in a story. Empathy is a key word here – children have to be able to put themselves in a character’s shoes and think about their motives and emotions. 

This can be difficult, especially for younger children, but empathising with book characters and considering why they chose this course of action, or what the consequences would be if they chose another, is a great way to develop a wide range of thinking and communication skills. 

Below you’ll find 5 classroom activities which will help your students explore and empathise with the characters they're reading about. They work best with primary age pupils but there’s no reason why older students won’t enjoy them too.

The activities are all adapted from Ros Wilson’s fantastic Ideas for Big Talk (Andrell Education). Download the full booklet here.


Activity 1: Thought tracking

Freeze! What are these characters thinking?
(Image: clicksphotography.net)

This technique supports children in examining the private thoughts of characters at certain points in a story (particularly tense moments work well here). 

Have a group of students recreate a scene from a book as a freeze frame. The rest of the class make a circle around the frozen character(s) and each student says what he/she thinks one of the characters in the freeze frame is thinking at this moment in the story.

To keep a permanent record: Photograph the freeze frame, print out the photo and stick it in the centre of a large piece of paper. The children can draw thought bubbles from their chosen character and write down their imagined thoughts.


Activity 2: Interior monologue
The purpose of this activity is to encourage children to think on their feet about continuity of thought, in role as a specific character. 

First, ensure students know what a monologue is – a prolonged talk by one person, usually written as if they are talking to themselves. Next, students either talk through the illustrations of a book as a character, or talk over a film clip where a character is not saying anything.

This activity can be quite intimidating. Have students work in pairs at first and then let the more confident kids perform their monologues.


Activity 3: Book gossip
We all like a good gossip! In this activity, children are given a situation from a story and work in pairs to role play as two minor characters talking about what they think of the main characters and what they are up to. 

This is a great way to explore less prominent characters and also develop a rounder picture of the main characters.

"You'll never guess what Harry and Ron did yesterday.
Hermione was fuming!"
(Image: nnhs65.com)

Activity 4: Who said what?
Give children examples of dialogue from a story. Can the children decide who said what? 

For example, who would say, ‘I want the kingdom for myself rather than for my brother and sisters!’? Is it Bob the Builder, Harry Potter or Edmund? 

Children have to explain why they think that character is the one who said it. Pick more ambiguous quotes and characters from the same book or film to increase the difficulty of this activity.


Activity 5: Mirror, mirror
Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all? 

Have students work in pairs. One plays the magic mirror, the other plays a character from a film or book. The character asks the mirror what it thinks the consequences of an action the character is considering taking may be. For example, Edmund from The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe may ask: ‘What will happen if I take my brother and sisters to the White Witch?’ 

Do you dare ask the enchanted mirror for the truth?
(Image: disney.wikia.com)

Remind the students that the enchanted mirror in the story of Snow White NEVER lies. It tells the truth, whether that’s what the characters want to hear or not. It also doesn't give yes or no answers. Students playing the mirror should give an explanation of what they think may occur should the character choose that certain path and why.

This activity is a great way to encourage kids to ask open-ended questions and to consider the alternative directions a story could have taken. If the children haven’t read the end of the story yet, it can also be a good prediction exercise.

You might need to initially model the role of the mirror yourself, before splitting your class into pairs and/or larger groups to ask and answer their own questions.

Read Ros Wilson's article 'A creative approach to the new curriculum' for more ways to keep creative even under the new curriculum's restrictive impositions.

Into Film Festival 2014 - Register your interest in a free school trip today!

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For a school trip that’s educational, exciting, fun and free, look no further than the Into Film Festival 2014, the world’s largest film festival for children and young people, taking place from 4 to 21 November this year. 

Harnessing the power of film to captivate young minds and bring learning to life, a packed programme will seek to creatively involve 300,000 five- to 19-year-olds from all backgrounds and corners of the UK in watching and making films, many for the first time. Highlights will include exclusive premieres and previews of new feature films, free screenings, workshops, special events and Q&A sessions with industry experts, accompanied by innovative teaching resources.

Key themes and curriculum ties
One of the festival’s key themes is the 25th Anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Included will be references to the treaty — the right to a childhood (including protection from harm), the right to be educated, the right to be healthy, the right to be treated fairly and the right to be heard.  In addition, the festival will incorporate screenings, events and resources linked to Anti-Bullying Week, Parliament Week, World War I/Remembrance Day, and other campaigns and calendar events taking place within its duration.

Following consultations with educators across England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, the Festival will have clear learning outcomes that tie in with the UK’s curricula, support education and personal development, as well as help to build a lifelong passion for film.  

Subjects covered will include English, maths, science, languages, history, geography and music. Many of the titles screened will have multiple subject connections and additional links to the areas of PSHE, citizenship, PE, ICT, art and design, DT, and RE.  

Curriculum linked teaching resources or informal film guides containing synopses and discussion questions will be provided alongside most films screened, promoting traditional and visual literacy, and facilitating further exploration of the films and the themes within them. 

Workshops will be on offer to enable young people to learn about different aspects of filmmaking from creative professionals.  Showcasing films made by young people will be an important element of the festival, with one or more youth made short films — selected by a team of young programmers — shown before every screening.  

Inclusive and accessible to all
With the aim of making the festival accessible to all young people, including those in disadvantaged or remote areas — many of whom have never before visited a cinema — screenings will be held in over 500 cinemas across all the major chains, and a range of venues across the UK from the ICA in London and the Millennium Centre in Wales, to independent cinemas on the Shetland Islands and the Isle of Skye.  

Autism friendly screenings and, for sensory-impaired attendees, subtitling and audio-description, will add to inclusivity.

The Into Film Festival 2014 will take place from 4 to 21 November. Bookings will go live at the beginning of September. The festival is free to take part in but advanced booking is required.

For more information, or to register for regular updates on festival-related news, opportunities and resources, visit: www.intofilm.org/festival.

All images: Into Film

Exciting new project gives kids a bird's eye view of WW1 and 2

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Students at Sir Robert Hitcham’s Primary School
in Suffolk write their secret wartime message.

Do something special for this year's centenary of World War 1 with an innovative interactive session demonstrating the extraordinary role pigeons played in Britain's victory by carrying secret messages home from the battlefields.

Carrier pigeons played a vital role in both World War 1 and 2 as they proved a reliable method of sending and receiving messages from the battlefields - in fact, their delivery success rate was a whopping 95%! 

Just in time for this year's centenary of WW1, a new educational project has been launched to offer schoolchildren across the UK the opportunity to learn about the pigeons' important and dangerous work.

The project, dubbed 'Secret Messages', will teach children how to write a simple coded message and demonstrate how pigeons carried them during the wars.

Pigeons in the war

A student from Sir Robert Hitcham's holds
the homing pigeon before it is released.

During World War II, over a quarter of a million pigeons were donated by British fanciers to help in the war effort. Once the war was over, pigeon racing was resumed, however their contribution to the war effort did not go unnoticed, with 32 of the 62 Dickin medals awarded to date going to carrier pigeons.

The very first pigeon to win the Dickin medal was Royal Blue who won the medal 'for being the first pigeon in this war to deliver a message from a forced landed aircraft on the continent while serving with the RAF in October 1940'. Royal Blue was donated by the King, illustrating the Royal families’ strong connection with pigeon racing since the late 1890s. To this day, there is a loft at Sandringham and Her Majesty the Queen is now a patron of the Royal Pigeon Racing Association.

British history has seen many patrons who strove to make our country a better and safer place. However, many forget that the humble homing pigeon played an enormous role in emergencies during both the World Wars and still give great benefits to fanciers today.

Donna Beard, who delivers the lessons to the schoolchildren, said: “We have had a really positive response to taking pigeons into schools in the past, which is why we feel that the Secret Messages project will be of great value to children and their teachers alike. Children enjoying handling the birds and learning to write their own secret messages will help to bring the importance of these birds’ contribution. What a great tribute to all involved in WW1 and WW2.”

How the Secret Messages project works

1. Pupils write their secret message on a piece of paper. This could be a simple message using simple Caesar cipher. This could be further developed by generating a message using a virtual Enigma Machine Emulator. 
2. Pupils place their message into a canister attached to the pigeon’s leg.
3. Pupils are taught how to hold the pigeon and then release their bird from an experienced pigeon fancier. Soldiers would have had to learn this skill.
4. The homing pigeon is released and sets off for home carrying the message back to the code breakers at Kingsmead School.
5. When the bird arrives home the message is taken from the canister and the message is decoded as fast as possible by a team of code breakers. 
6. The decoded message along with the original coded message is photographed by a smartphone or iPad/tablet and emailed to the person or school. 
7. Following the experience, pupils can research a range of different investigations and win some fantastic prizes.

Sounds exciting? Get your school involved!
Schools are able to apply to for an experienced handler to visit with a small team of homing pigeons. The Secret Messages project is available to all children of all ages in the UK and is a free service.

For more information or to book a Secret Messages session for your school, visit secretmessages.org.uk.

PLUS! Visit flyingbacktonature.com to view and download a range of teaching resources and lesson plans on pigeons, secret messages and World War 1.

Donna helps students release their bird and send
their secret message on its way!

Secret Messages was launched on July 8th 2014. The project is a collaboration between the Midlands National Flying Club and the Royal Pigeon Racing Association.

Launch your PBL unit with a bang!

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The first session of your project is one of the most important, as this is what hooks your learners and gets them excited about exploring that juicy driving question. But how can you make it a day to remember?

Image: williambrookes.com

The Year 7 students wait outside the school hall. They’re all clutching flight boarding passes and the corridor is alive with the buzz of excited conversation as they wonder what’s going to happen.

Suddenly, the door opens! The murmuring stops as a Year 10 student steps into the corridor, and the younger pupils wait expectantly for their instructions.

“Your flight to Fiji is now ready to board,” the Year 10 student says with a professional smile. “Please follow me.”

The Year 7 kids follow eagerly, filing into the hall. They see that the chairs in the hall have all been set up in rows of six, with an aisle cutting down the middle – it’s a plane!

Thoroughly thrilled now, the young students take their assigned seats, as directed by the Year 10 flight attendants. They sit for a few minutes, shuffling through the magazines and safety leaflets they found on their seats, before one of the air hostesses plays a real flight safety video and the pilot (a member of staff, dressed the part of course!) announces they’re ready to take off.

The students cheer as he informs them they are now air-borne and on their way to exotic Fiji!

That is, until disaster strikes. The plane suddenly loses one of its engines, and then another. The pilot keeps the passengers informed as yet another engine fails, and the children listen with anxious (but still rather excited) expressions.

“I’m taking us down on the ocean,” the pilot announces grimly.

With great skill (oddly, this pilot has crashed a plane into the ocean a few times before…) the pilot brings the plane down on the sea. 

It’s a perfect landing, and the flight crew begin evacuating their young passengers.

“There’s an island nearby!” the pilot calls as Year 7s leap into the ‘ocean’. “You’ll have to swim. Watch out for the sharks."

And thus begins Matthew Moss High School’s project-based learning unit ‘The Island’. Now stranded on a desert island, the Year 7s will have to work out how they’re going to survive and then begin to explore how their islander community might evolve.

The kids are completely engaged in the story, the very convincing plane crash setting the precedent for a dynamic and absorbing project.

And that’s the trick to successfully launching a project-based learning unit – an exciting, memorable entry event.

What is an entry event?

Your entry event is exactly what it sounds like – the first session of your unit and your students’ introduction to the project.

According to the Buck Institute for Education, an entry event has two basic purposes: 

• to spark student interest and curiosity
• to begin the inquiry process by leading students to ask questions.

The whole point of the entry event is to introduce the driving question and establish a ‘need to know’. The students should be hooked – they should want to get on with exploring the driving question right away!

An entry event also has to stimulating and unforgettable. Suzie Boss suggests novelty, so your students aren’t quite sure what to expect.

So what kind of events make for a good PBL introduction? 

Drama and simulations

Kids as scientists on a spaceship
(Image:mantleoftheexpert.com)

Understandably, many teachers opt for the dramatic when it comes to introducing their project – and why not? It’s a chance to have some fun and get involved in a bit of make-believe. It also makes for a memorable launch to the project – which of the Year 7s at Matthew Moss High School are going to forget the day their teacher crashed a plane into the ocean?

Simulations like this work well because they involve the kids in the action. They also give students a role to play in the project. In the case of the plane crash for example, the kids were survivors, stranded on a desert island, and they stuck with and developed that role throughout the rest of the unit. 

Other projects use the entry event to set students up in the role of an ‘expert’. Depending on the curriculum content you’re covering, your kids may be archaeologists working on a dig, rescuers at the scene of a disaster, scientists in a laboratory, astronauts in a space station, or rebel fighters in a civil war. 

This type of project is made for a dramatic introduction. Start yours by gathering your students together for an in-role team meeting or briefing. Remember to let them know who they are. Use presentations, photographs, video clips and sound to get them into role and then to introduce them to their challenge. The more dramatic, the better!

Alternatively, see if you can get a visitor to come into school and play what Suzie Boss terms ‘a stranger from another century’. In her Edutopia blog post, Boss tells of a school who launched their project based on the Epic of Gilgamesh with ‘footage of swords clashing and bare feet running on a grassy battlefield. There were whoops and cries from cheering warriors, but no narrative to explain what was happening.’

As the video ended, the stranger from the past (a local classics professor in full costume) entered the classroom and challenged the students to find out ‘why his army had been vanquished by superior forces.’

If you can’t get someone local to come in and play a historic or fictional character, try a search online. There are plenty of companies, charities and actors who will be happy to Skype you and your class for a small fee. Imagine! Your students could have a chat with a real live Viking! (You know what we mean...)

When it comes to dramatic entry events, the only limit is your imagination. Rope in a few teachers and older students to play any extra characters you need (GCSE drama students are always a good bet) and see what you can come up with. 

Interesting objects

Image: interfaithhousing.org

Another way to introduce a PBL unit is through the use of interesting objects. Appeal to your students’ curiosity and imagination by arranging for a surprise invitation or parcel to be delivered to the class, asking for help with a particular problem, or orchestrate an exciting discovery on school grounds such as a time capsule, an ancient map or a box of secret letters.

Children at a primary school in West Lothian arrived one morning to find a paper trail of animal tracks leading into the classroom. At the end of them, a toy fox and its cub were sitting in the centre of the floor with a letter next to them. The letter explained how the foxes’ home – the enchanted woodland – had been destroyed and so they no longer had anywhere to live. It asked the children if they could help the foxes create a new home.

Other potential project hooks to appeal to the senses and engage students in their driving question include:

• a display of historical artefacts
• a provocative reading or poem
• ‘mysterious’ or unusual photographs
• film clips
• sound bites
• a song
• a piece of art
• shocking statistics.

Field trips and guest speakers

School outings and guest speakers - whether speaking in school, via Skype, or out on a field trip - are another exciting way to introduce a project. We’ve touched on this briefly, but guest speakers don’t always have to be in-role as a character from history or a work of fiction. Visitors from charities, museums, zoos, aquariums, local businesses, even local celebrities, can all provide thought-provoking talks to launch a project.

For example, The Innovation Unit’s guide to PBL tells of a teacher who began a project on peaceful protest by inviting in a local musician who performed for the students and then answered their questions about why, and how, he wrote protest songs.

Combining field trips with guest speakers, one school in Stockport took their students on a visit to a local archaeological site, where the students were introduced to a legendary story about a Celtic tribal leader. Developing this story as an epic battle movie became the students’ project.

In another project at Matthew Moss High School, the children were carted off to the local history centre to meet real historians and genealogists. Their task during this unit would be to research their family history and create a beautiful family tree, and experts from the history centre would be on hand throughout the project to assist.

Examining a model response

The Innovation Unit also suggests showing your students a model of the type of product they will be creating as the project’s entry event. There’s no reason you can’t do this as well as a flashy hook, but a careful, full-class examination of a model will show students exactly what you expect from them and what they should aim for.

The model can be something you created yourself, exemplary work from the previous year group’s project (though this is only possible if you’ve done the project before), or work by a professional.

Image: Matthew Moss High School

The biggest advantage of using a model as an entry event is that it provides the perfect introduction to ‘critiquing’ – an important part of PBL (see our first blog post in this series, The 8 essential elements of project-based learning). 

Work with your class to critique the model. Help your class to understand what critiquing means by breaking it down into questions:

• What is its purpose?
• How well does it meet that purpose? 

Get them to consider the work they will be undertaking. Look at the model and consider: 

• What looks most difficult to do? 
• What looks easiest to do? 
• What aspects are most important?
• What are least important?

The model you show will give students something to base their standards on, and spark discussion as to what the students’ own models will need to have, do or be. The ensuing discussion and your kids’ decision on what a ‘good’ final product will look like will be something for you to base your assessment criteria on.

Image: Matthew Moss High School

No matter what you choose to do, your PBL unit should begin with a bang. The kids should be engaged, excited and raring to go. After all, all that planning will be for nothing if your students are not invested in the project.

Of course, a good entry event doesn’t guarantee a successful project. It’s an important factor in getting the kids on board, but it’s where you go from here that will determine how much they get out of it.

A major element of PBL is the multiple drafting and critiquing process. Our next blog post will consider what this means in practice and how you can help your students develop the skills they need to be successful in this area. Watch this space!

Using myths and legends to inspire confidence and improve literacy skills

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Myths and legends can inspire in drama, art, and more!
(Image: belmont.school.nz)

Teaching mythology is a great way to develop a love of reading and writing in students of all ages, to inspire in drama and art and to cultivate a desire to research ancient history and other cultures. 

It's also a great theme to explore with students who are less confident in their abilities and less engaged with learning. The world of myths, legends, fairytales and folklore has no boundaries - it is limitless. Our more vulnerable youngsters can create, dream and imagine, without fear of being judged or without fear of getting it wrong.

Teaching myths and legends to students with Special Educational Needs, or to those whose first language is not English or struggle with reading for example, can be made even easier with the amazing resources available online. Video clips, audio stories, animations, and interactive maps and games are just a few.

Below are reviews of two websites which could prove very useful when differentiating for your less 'able' students. 

Interested? Read on. 

Storynory.com
Key Stages 1 and 2

Packed full of humorous audio stories, Storynory is brilliant for introducing young children to a number of different myths and legends.

You'll find a massive range of free audio stories to download here, including legends such as Robin Hood and King Arthur and a number of Greek myths.

The majority of these audio stories are around 10 to 15 minutes long, and the longer myths are generally split up into parts. Most are available as a transcript also, and on the occasion of a more complicated myth (The Trojan war, for example, which confusingly appears both in history and mythology), the Storynory team have put together some background information to help kids understand both the fact and the fiction.

The auditory form of these stories means this site is brilliant for children who might struggle with reading myths and legends in written form. The site’s homepage suggests using the audio stories with blind or autistic children, or with those whose first language is not English.

The site is also very simply laid out and easy to navigate. This, along with the bright colours and pictures, the cute mascot (a frog named Prince Bertie – once a human prince of course!), and the simple wording of the stories, means young children will have no trouble exploring Storynory on their own if they want to.

Myths and Legends
Key Stages 1, 2 and 3

A great resource for developing a love of stories and storytelling, there are over 75 vibrantly animated myths and legends from the British Isles and beyond to watch and explore on this site.

With each myth set out like a storybook, readers can sit back and watch the animations unfold, or manually click through at their own pace. The accompanying words are also read aloud, along with realistic sound effects, which is great if working with children with SEN in literacy or whose first language is not English.

Teachers can register with the site for free, which then allows their students to upload their own myths and legends (either as a written text, or recorded file) for the teacher to review online. The site provides a whole range of free images and sounds students can download and use when doing this.

Reading and listening to myths can inspire children to 

create their own.

(Image: nicurriculum.org.uk)

For students who want to take their story one step further, there’s the StoryCreator tool, which allows you to create your own storybook style animations, similar to those on the rest of the website. Anyone can access the tool and create a story, but unfortunately, to save and upload your story to the site, your school must subscribe. Whole school access costs £59 a year. It is a fantastic tool though, and I believe worth at least considering. It’s a lot of fun to play around with, but really encourages creativity. It would also be perfect for introducing students to story structure and planning, as well as certain aspects of ICT.

Even if you don’t decide to subscribe, this site is definitely well worth a visit with your class. Students of all ages will really enjoy the animated myths and legends, and the site’s emphasis on the importance of stories and imagination should hopefully inspire them to create their own, whether they’re using the StoryCreator tool or not.